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Iraq's interim prime minister said Saturday that his country has
lost $1 billion to insurgent attacks on the oil infrastructure and
the ripple effect across the economy.
 Iyad
Allawi made his remarks during a visit with Oil Minister Thamir
Ghadbhan to an oil spill caused by pipeline sabotage in Babil
province.
"What you are seeing is the traces of a big crime which is committed
against Iraq and Iraqi people by groups [that have lost their way]
and are insisting on crime, attacking Iraq's sovereignty, attacking
the stability of Iraq and the continuous hits to the oil
infrastructure," Allawi said.
Saboteurs have stepped up their attacks in recent weeks in Iraq's
north and south.
Allawi said the indirect economic costs are still being studied. The
environmental pollution "is hard to evaluate," he said.
"The amount of losses which affected Iraq on the farmers and on the
water and on the water pollution -- they are all issues which make
the citizen face great danger and threatens the livelihood of the
farmers and makes them face a wide spectrum of difficulties," he
said.
He said the $1 billion was, in effect, "taken from the pockets of
the average Iraqi and the average Iraqi family," and that the loss
will affect pensions.
Ghadbhan said the ministry has signed contracts with clans
throughout the country to protect pipelines. He said the Ministry of
Oil has started a force to protect the lines as well.
"We hope that with time the force will improve and the protection
measures will improve, and what is more important is that
cooperation of the citizens to protect their oil wealth," Ghadbhan
said.
Attacks this week halted oil exports in the south, and the coalition
hopes the exports could resume as early as Sunday.
Ghadbhan said it will be resumed in the south "very soon."
"We hope that in a short period of time we'll go back to the former
export rate. It is known that we used to export around 1.7 million
barrels [per day] in the south," he said.
Sabotage has reduced oil exports in the north to a trickle. |